


Feathers Aflame

by EchidnaViper



Category: RWBY
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 03:42:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14035422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchidnaViper/pseuds/EchidnaViper
Summary: An imagining of a complex romantic relationship between Raven Branwen and Summer Rose set years before the rest of the series. A story that is meant to be focused on the two main characters and the difficulties they face in their shared love of Taiyang, although most people will probably focus on Part 2. Written midway through Volume 5, so there may be small continuity errors in the rest of that volume and major ones may arise in the future.





	1. Lantern

Paper lanterns floated in the nighttime air, orange bulbs hovering just out of reach. In the courtyard below, thousands applauded as they let their personal lights float above. It was a celebration of some design, to commemorate the life of a leader, perhaps, but she didn’t care. It was the sort of sentimental beauty that had been appealing to her lately.

Raven Branwen raised a hand to the night air and imagined herself drifting away with the lanterns, falling away from the future and from the past and mostly from the man she said she loved. His doting had become obnoxious, prompting the vacation to Mistral. She had been staying in the single room, usually sitting out on its balcony and imagining how life could have been if she had decided to… 

That didn’t matter anymore. She rubbed her swollen abdomen, feeling the red silk of her shirt brush against her skin, and decided that for better or worse her path was chosen.

A sixth sense, however, told her that she wasn’t completely away from her old life. She looked over her shoulder, her black ponytail swaying behind her, and found someone she had left in her past some time before.

“Hi, Raven,” Summer greeted, her voice the same soothing pitch it had been when they first met years before. She seemed to be dressed for an occasion, her figure accented by a white dress that highlighted every curve and her dark silver hair glistening in the blueish glow of the shattered moon.

“What are you doing here?” Raven demanded, immediately defensive. She put one hand on her stomach and lifted the other near her, as if she was expecting a fight. Summer seemed offended, even wounded, quickly looking away and squeezing her left wrist nervously with her right hand. Raven sighed and approached her, patting her on the shoulder. She let her fingers linger a second too long on the third pat, feeling the smoothness of Summer’s skin and remembering a time when she had touched her before. Withdrawing her fingers, she apologized: “Instincts from the battlefield. Not you.”

Summer, her cheeks pink, locked eyes with her. “Even after leaving?” Her tone seemed disappointed, suggesting a fear that most huntresses and hunters had expressed privately to their closest friends at some point: going home didn’t mean the Grimm left your mind alone.

She gave a lighthearted laugh to try and lighten the mood. “You worry too much, Rose.” She tried to avoid smiling but the moment had caught her in its grasp, and the usually-stern visage of Raven Branwen was shattered.

Something about this triggered an instinct within Summer, and the shorter woman sprung upwards and pressed her lips to the rare smile. Raven stepped backwards immediately, almost causing Summer to fall against the wooden floor, and turned herself away.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

The white dress seemed to move like a ghost to the other side of the balcony, and Summer’s body shook vehemently within the fabric. She was crying silently, knowing that what she had done wasn’t forgivable.

“I’m so sorry.” Her voice was hardly audible, a whisper in the stream of laughter from below. Raven looked down at the crowd and wished she could have reveled in the moment, enjoyed the happiness that being with Taiyang and carrying his child had brought her.

_ That bitch ruins everything _ , Raven thought to herself, wondering how she had even found her. Summer accidentally released a whimper, still crying to herself in the corner, and Raven once again felt her walls cracking. “If you’re manipulating me, Rose, I’ll pluck out your petals and smash what’s left.”

She shook her head and turned to face her former lover. “I messed up, I messed up.”

“Why did you come here?”

Summer looked around the balcony, as if worried they were being watched, and looked back to Raven. “I have something I need to say.” Removing a tear from a cheek. “I wanted to tell you and Tai at once, but I was called in for Grimm control in Mistral and--”

“Spit it out.” She was tired of the dancing, even more now that her lips were already craving the warmth she had denied them. Taiyang was emotional and made her feel a connection to the world and to people she never had on her own, but in his touch she felt very little. Raven had the same indifference towards humanity that she did, but she exuded an insatiable wanting, a passion that went against the shy facade she wore. All Raven wanted was to find out what Summer was trying to say and return to Tai, but a part of her mind couldn’t help but dwell on the possibilities, dwell on the version of this event where she wasn’t carrying an extra soul and she and Summer would fall into the bed and feel alive again.

“I love Tai,” Summer said, the words rolling out of her mouth like they had been imprisoned inside, fleeing her tongue like shrapnel from the site of an explosion. Raven blinked in reply, dumbfounded at the confession.

“So you came here to kiss me and then tell me you love the father of my child?” she spat, putting both hands on her stomach as if trying to shield her future daughter from the rage she was releasing. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Rose.”

This broke whatever shield against her own emotions Summer had been producing and her eyes became the origins of rivers. She held her face in her hands and twisted her feet together, begging the world around her to somehow offer an escape route. “I’m so sorry. I… I love Tai. And you. I love you both.”

It had been several weeks since Raven Branwen had laughed. Taiyang had attached a cone of some sort to her belly and had begun to pretend to have a conversation with their child. Something about it, about his innocence and the care he was already showing someone he hadn’t even met, had struck a chord inside of Raven and had caused her to laugh out of some strange combination of finding him ridiculous and finding him charming. She hadn’t expected to laugh, though, at her old lover admitting she was in love with them both.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” she hollered, no longer caring about if the people below the balcony or in nearby houses could hear her. “You came here to tell me you love me  _ and  _ him? So what is it you’re after? You want me to take you back with us and make you part of the family? Give you massages in the bathtub like we did years ago? Watch lustfully while Tai bends you over the side of  _ our  _ bed? Help raise  _ our  _ child? You can’t be serious, Rose. You can’t fucking be serious.”

Summer stared at the ground in shock for a few moments before she raised her head to look at Raven. “That all sounds pretty nice, though, doesn’t it?”

 

And the paper lanterns floated into the sky like shards of the moon.


	2. Lover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second half of the story in which Raven and Summer's conflicts over Taiyang reach a decidedly physical confrontation.

Taiyang sighed as he left the closed door behind, heading towards the bedroom. It had taken far longer for his daughter to fall asleep that night than it usually had, which was annoying because he had already had a stressful day. All he wanted was to get to bed and fall asleep next to Raven. He looked to the couch to say goodnight to Summer, but for whatever reason there was nobody beneath the sheet.

“Girl talk, maybe?” he shrugged, opening the door.

Raven’s red shirt was pushed up to just beneath her breasts, and her still-round belly was rising and falling with her harsh breathing. Her outstretched arms were tight as her hands gripped the bed, nails driving into the sheets as she struggled to keep her body from snapping apart. The only thing visible of her head was a chin slowly bobbing above a red patch on her neck, the swarm of black hair in an unruly mess that stuck to the sweat of her skin. A large bulge beneath a blue sheet seemed to pulsate, though nothing was visible of the figure except for two pale feet sticking out near the edge of the bed in-between Raven’s. Around Raven’s ankles were the red pants she always wore to bed, and as she took a sharp breath she kicked with one foot and the fabric tossed halfway off the bed.

She looked down at the sound of the door opening, her mouth slightly agape and her pupils virtually enveloping the red around them. Taiyang, frozen, pointed to the moving mass underneath the sheets and paused to ask a question before Raven raised a hand. She brought it to her shirt and pulled it over one of her breasts, stroking a circle around her nipple and licking her lips. She lowered her eyes to his crotch and nodded, summoning his desire emotionally and physically. He wasn’t sure what to do, standing in the doorway to his bedroom as it unfolded, when Raven let out a yelp and grabbed Summer’s head from above the sheets, holding her in place. When her eyes opened they were vacant, as if she wasn’t even fully in her body, and Taiyang couldn’t help himself from rushing forward to meet her lips.

As he felt her lips intersecting with his, he couldn’t help but imagine Summer underneath those sheets, and he had to admit that the image was fueling his desire even for Raven. He kissed her like he wasn’t even himself anymore, rubbing his hands across her body, one running over her stomach and onto her breasts and the other dancing along her back. They held like that for what felt like an ecstatic eternity, the three former classmates breathing in tandem as the conventions they had ascribed to drained away into almost animalistic passion. Raven reached down and unzipped Taiyang’s pants, and he helped her to bring them so they slid down to the ground.

Raven drew her face away from his, her breathing so fast that she almost seemed ready to pass out, and lifted the sheet off of her legs to reveal Summer. She looked up, confusion in her eyes and a flushed embarrassment on her face. She tried to resist the urge but couldn’t help but stare at Taiyang, his hands twitching on Raven’s breasts and his erection anxious. She laughed, hiding her head between Raven’s legs, and she joined in. Taiyang stepped away, embarrassed, and tried to figure out a way out of this situation.

“It’s just awkward, Tai,” she laughed, looking into his eyes. He didn’t seem convinced so, in a smooth motion, she pulled off the rest of her shirt. She raised her eyebrows and, her red irises seeming to shimmer, said: “Get over here.”

Summer’s eyes peeked over a thigh, feeling terribly exposed despite being the only one in the room fully dressed. Taiyang slowly unbuttoned the top of his shirt and slowly moved down, still feeling terrible exposed in front of Summer. Raven sighed and, still completely naked, raised her legs and rotated off the bed, standing to face Taiyang. She grabbed the two halves of his shirt in either hand and stretched it in either direction, tearing buttons out, and started to kiss his neck. She ran her lips down his collarbones and onto his sternum and, putting her hands on his hips, gently maneuvered him over to their bed. Once he was sitting down, his face still frozen in a sense of shock, she slid to her knees. His formerly-closed mouth seemed to unhinge as she started, and his hands instinctively went to her head and began to gently press through her hair.

“I’m just going to go,” Summer said, standing up and trying to skip to the door.

Raven rested her head on Taiyang’s thigh and sighed. “Just when it was getting good?”

She turned around reluctantly, not entirely sure if she wanted to see anything she had just seen, and found herself facing Raven. Summer was complete still as Raven stepped forward and, her bare flesh pressed against a white sports bra, whispered into her ear: “You wanted him. I’m giving him to you. I just want to watch.” She kissed Summer’s cheek and rotated around her, her lips sticking to her skin, until she was standing directly behind her.

The two of them refused to make eye contact, both blushing and motionless.

“I always have to do everything,” Raven muttered, running her hands up Summer’s chest and pulling off the straps of her bra. She pulled it up, allowing her two breasts to sit motionless above the woman’s frozen breath. Raven rested her head on a shoulder, running a single index finger over Summer’s pure skin and from a straight line from her sternum down to her underwear, resting her palm on her crotch and staring seductively at Taiyang. He gulped, every fantasy he had had since high school playing out in gorgeous moonlit colors, a sight so incredibly unreal that he wasn’t even sure how to act. As usual, and lucky for him, the other party took the first step.

Summer waded forward and got onto the bed, crawling on all fours until she was spread only inches above Tai’s body. She closed her eyes and, letting out a hasty breath, smiled and dropped her face until their lips met. His eyes immediately sealed shut, the shock of the situation dissipating and giving way to what had been playing out in his mind for minutes, no, years. It was a rhythmic kiss, not as physically passionate as Raven’s but altogether more meaningful, a softness in Summer’s lips that suggested this meant more to her than just fucking.

Raven, even more impatient, jumped onto the bed and pulled Summer’s panties down, her old teammate silently moving her legs to let the last of her clothing fall away. Raven leaned back against the railing, her legs spread out and her feet touching Taiyang’s, and watched as their two bodies flattened against each other as they kissed, his tan hands rubbing across her back and hers pressed against the headboard. Summer pushed herself away from him and, carefully moving her thin hips above him, spent several seconds until he was fully inside of her. They moved together, his body rising off the bed to meet hers, her hands occasionally sliding over the muscles of his lower body.

As Summer’s breathing rose into a brief squeak and Taiyang moaned in response, Raven felt her body crying out to join them. She pushed the thought away, terrified at the thought of getting rejected from them, and continued to move one hand over her breasts and the other between her legs. Summer, sweat rolling down her face, smiled and giggled as she locked eyes with Taiyang, their bodies perfectly in sync.

That was what finally broke down Raven’s nervousness, and she prowled like a cat around Summer and over Taiyang’s chest, pushing forward until her breasts were hanging over his eyes like chandeliers and hanging there for a moment. Summer gulped as she felt Tai grow, somehow, even more excited, and she could tell that this had moved from being some sort of childish fantasy between the two of them to being an entirely sensual engagement, three warm bodies poised to strike at the others and draw ecstasy from their veins.

Raven rotated on her hands and knees and backed towards Tai’s face, her legs going underneath his arms and his hands immediately moving to grasp and direct her hips. She looked up, her face level with Summer’s belly, and looked her friends in the eyes. Summer reached forward and, her hands still moving as her body rocked to the rhythm of Tai’s, put her hands on either side of Raven’s face.

What felt like hours passed, the three of their personalities secondary to the carnal lust that they had all put away but had been denying for years, glances exchanged over high school lunches, instances of waking up to find someone changing, a shirt tearing in a battle with a Grimm that spent a little too long before mending. It was above emotion, or perhaps beneath it, something that was simultaneously a primal element and an enlightened one, waves of passion crossing their bodies as they felt love in each vibrating muscle, experienced warmth beneath the soft touch of fingertips, revealed aching hearts under cries of ecstasy and half-conscious affirmations and pleas of desire.

“I--” a gasp “love you.”

A smile. Raven leaned forward and, climbing up Summer’s body, tenderly kissed her with a warmth neither of them knew they even knew how to create. She danced a finger on her cheek and down her body, fastening her hands to Summer’s hips and helping her grind against Taiyang’s body. Raven licked her lips, feeling both bodies rise to uncontrollable extremes as even muscles began to forget how to function, and looked up into silver eyes shaking with a desire buried beneath years of forbidden dreams.

 

“I love you too.”


	3. Leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The finale of the short story "Feathers Aflame," outlining the end of the fragile polyamorous relationship established between Raven, Summer, and Taiyang.

She threw the bag over her shoulder and stepped past the wooden gate, the shadows already beginning to flow around her. She began to channel her semblance, finding someone she had left at the camp, and readied herself for the portal to open.

“Raven?”

With a clenched jaw and fists she turned to see Summer, wrapping her white cloak around her body, running barefoot to her. Even in the shadows Raven could tell she was worried, perhaps terrified. “I thought you were asleep.”

Summer shook her head and grabbed Raven’s hand. “No, I’m awake. Let’s go inside, okay?” Raven looked down and ripped her hand away.

“I’m leaving, Rose.”

She immediately collapsed onto Raven, pressing against her and wrapping her arms tightly around her torso. “Don’t say shit like that.” She held back a sob. “Don’t say it.”

Raven stood as a statue for several seconds before reciprocating the embrace. “I’m sorry, but I’ve already made up my mind.” She tried to let go and push Summer away, but the small woman had a surprisingly constricting grip.

“You can’t go, you--” Summer was now openly crying, her tears getting in the way of her speech. She squeezed tighter around her lover, burying her face between Raven’s breasts. Her voice, now barely a whisper, continued to pry: “Why?”

“My people.” The night was soundless to them save their shared voices. “The tribe can’t survive without a leader.”

“It doesn’t have to be you,” Summer insisted, finally letting go and stepping back. Her face was red and almost reflective with the tears crossing her cheeks. The silver of her eyes almost seemed dark gray, as if there was a storm preparing to unleash on the forest.

Raven put three fingers to her forehead and tried to figure out a way to explain. Unsatisfied but feeling a compulsion to answer regardless, she placed her hands on her hips and stared directly into Summer’s eyes. “This is just how it is. I have to return. I left you a note.”

Summer combed through her pockets until she found a roll of paper. She began to unroll it when Raven placed her hand on the paper and shook her head. “Let me read it. Please.”

“You can read it when I leave,” Raven retorted, almost beginning to sneer. Summer, having seen this feral side before, took another step back and dropped the paper. Her face spontaneously flushing with color, Raven bent down and picked it up before handing it to its intended recipient. “Most of it is stuff I couldn’t say in person. Ever. The rest is simple things about how to take care of Tai and Yang, if you can stay with them.”

She accepted the note again and placed it back in her coat. She willed herself to stop crying and, somewhat accepting the inevitable, turned back to Raven. “Why are you leaving her?”

Leaning against the tree, Raven looked at the lightless window that fed into her daughter’s room. “I don’t want her to have my childhood, raised by a clan of bandits. You and Tai can give her the family she should have.” She twirled a strand of black hair, beginning to worry about Taiyang waking up and seeing the two of them talking. He wasn’t meant to know what was happening until she was gone.

“Is…” Summer started, but her lips sealed to catch the rest of the thought.

“Spit it out, Rose. This is the time for final questions and unresolved bullshit.”

She composed herself and spat the question out: “Why can’t I come with you?”

Raven was silent.

There was no good answer.

“We could even bring Yang and I could watch out for her while you did leadership stuff. And Tai! I’m sure he’d be fine surrounded by bandits, he’s--”

“Shut up, Rose.” The remaining words seemed to pass like a cloud through Summer’s lips, ideas spoken through sharp breaths. This time it was Raven who grabbed Summer’s hand, and the latter felt a deathly chill in her fingertips, as if Raven was forfeiting her vitality. This train of thought was abandoned as Raven leaned forward and kissed her for an eternity of an instant. She tore her lips away as quickly as she had brought them together, and with red eyes she looked up at the pieces of moon floating in the emptiness. “There are things I haven’t told you. Please, please trust me. Stay with Tai. Have a family.”

“I don’t want a family without you!” Summer squealed, almost tackling Raven in a hug. “I can’t do it without you!” Her voice faded away as she herself wasn’t sure if she wanted to admit what was in her throat. “I love Tai, I really do. But he’s not… you. He makes me feel good and you make me feel--”

Raven placed her hand over Summer’s mouth. Her walls seemed to have cracked, and a tear rolled down her chalk-white cheek. “Love him, Rose. Help him deal with me leaving. Help him raise Yang...” She ran her hand onto Summer’s slightly-inflated belly. “...and her sister.”

Summer was speechless as Raven stepped away, her hands quaking but hidden in her red sleeves. The two of them were silent, and Raven turned to begin the summoning process once more. She would be back with her blood family and would leave the sentimental nonsense behind.

“Alive.”

Raven looked over her shoulder. “Huh?” Summer was staring at the ground, both of her hands resting on torso.

“He makes me feel good and you make me feel alive,” Summer finished. She looked up and smiled, tears streaking from her closed eyes. “And I won’t lie, this feels like dying. But I’m not going to give up. I want to see you again, but until then I guess I have to be a mom.”

Raven slid a white mask on over her head to hide the tears that she could no longer stop. “I’ll see you again one day, Rose.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

_ I always will. _

 

Summer laughed as the red dissipated from the dark outline of the trees. She turned and walked back towards the house, drops still falling on the dirt before her path.  _ Maybe Tai will let me name the baby after her. Raven Rose.  _ She stopped and thought about it for a minute.  _ Too creepy. But maybe… _

 

_ … maybe just the first letter. _


End file.
